Immigration Bill Politics

I wholeheartedly agree with your editorial (“Beyond the Welcome Mat: Pricey Politics,” Oct. 7) about the costs of immigration legislation before Congress.

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed HR 4300, the Family Unity and Employment Opportunity Immigration Act of 1990. This bill will increase the number of visas available annually from 500,000 to roughly 850,000, and stay the deportations of hundreds of thousands of immediate relatives of aliens who obtained permanent resident status under the Immigration Reform and Control Act. Using studies by the Center for Immigration Studies and the Urban Institute, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) estimated that HR 4300 would cost state and local governments $2,600 more than they would recover in revenue for every immigrant admitted. However, HR 4300 authorizes no reimbursements for the states.

I submitted an amendment to HR 4300 which would have tied new immigration to this $2,600-per capita figure.

However, members of the Committee on Rules decided that my amendment did not deserve consideration. Instead, they allowed debate on an amendment by Rep. Tom Lewis (R-Fla.) to authorize $500 million annually in the next five years to reimburse states and local governments for increased costs caused by HR 4300. I spoke in favor of the Lewis amendment and was disappointed to see it fail. I was especially distressed to see 26 members of the California delegation vote against this amendment, 25 of whom voted for final passage of HR 4300.

HR 4300, as passed, shows no compassion to the immigrants it would admit because California and its cities do not have the money to expand school, hospital and housing budgets. The bill shows little compassion to current needy residents because they will compete for the same scarce social services as immigrants.

REP. RON PACKARD

R-Carlsbad